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I've finally moved on from the first day! The first load - the rules were broken, the second - forgot to re-apply the 'German fix' after the 12.0.4 update, third load - forgot to load all Germans...

So I've now got a backroom team sorted, a couple of transfers lined up, and won my first two friendlies. Three to go, all easy warm up's, then the league assault can commence!

**I know RBL are an easy team to do this with, but I was playing as them anyway, so thought I may as well do this as part of my save. I've kind of adopted them as my joint-second supported team alongside FC United (after an epic FM11 save and using them in FM10 for Dafuges challenge.)

I've finally moved on from the first day! The first load - the rules were broken, the second - forgot to re-apply the 'German fix' after the 12.0.4 update, third load - forgot to load all Germans...

So I've now got a backroom team sorted, a couple of transfers lined up, and won my first two friendlies. Three to go, all easy warm up's, then the league assault can commence!

**I know RBL are an easy team to do this with, but I was playing as them anyway, so thought I may as well do this as part of my save. I've kind of adopted them as my joint-second supported team alongside FC United (after an epic FM11 save and using them in FM10 for Dafuges challenge.)

how do you do the german fix thing i tried it before and it sort of screwed my game over

Founded in 1905, SV Eintracht Trier 05 are a professional German club currently playing in the 3. Fußball-Liga. The club play their home games at Moselstadion and possess average training facilities and basic youth facilities. The club also has average junior coaching and a fairly basic youth recruitment network.

The club enjoyed probably their best spell of success during the 1980s. Although now enduring an eighteen year barren spell, having not won a competition since 1994, Trier still have a history of which they can be justly proud. Trier finished runners-up in the German 4th tier in 2002 and 2011, won the German 5th tier on five occasions and finished runners-up on four occasions, and finished runners-up in the Regionalliga West in 1999.

Stefano Pazzarelli - Città di Pontedera

Season 2014/2015 - Serie C1/B

We used the same formation as last year and it worked like a charm. With our slow and patient build-up we controlled most of our matches, but had to tweak our tactics against the best teams in the division. Anyway, after 18 games being in the play-off zone we found ourself top of the league after 19 games and didn't look back. The main reason the other teams didn't catch up with us was the fact that we kept drawing the games we deserved to lose. Got to the semi-finals of the Serie C-cup, but lost to promotion-rivals Perugia. Financually we went around 500,000£ in the red, and will need to perhaps sell one of our stars this summer.

GK: Sergio - Only 18 years old, but didn't embarass himself at all this season. 11 clean sheets is impressive.

RB: Simone Mariani - The Pontedera youth-product broke into the starting XI this season, and did it with a nice overall rating aswell. Solid!
DC: Mattia Pagano - Young, talented stopper who is also a part of the italian u19-team. Was out 3 months or so with an injury, but played well when fit.
DC: Matteo Gandelli - Our besta defender, finishing the season with a nice rating and 7 goals from corners.
DL: Francesco Zarini - Very nice rating, solid defending and a nice man to have as cornertaker. Had to let him go due to wage demands being stupidly high.

DMC: Mattia Calamai - Our anchorman. Did a good job in protecting our defence and taking the opponents AMC out of the game.
DMC: Jacopo Fortunato - Our DLP and Captain. Didn't impress like he did last season but solid nontheless. Hopefully he will cope with stepping up a level.

AMR: Hugo Lopes - Tricky right winger, but often spoiled attacks with his horrible decisionmaking.
AMC: Daniele Bessa - Did an allright job as trequarista, but only 1 assist.
AML: Giulio Grifoni - Nothing spectacular, but didn't really have a bad game either. Don't know how well he will be able to cope with Serie B.

MC: Matteo Piccinini - Handy player. Played in both DMC-roles aswell as withdrawn AMC when Bessa was injuried.
RB: Angelo Antonazzo - Experienced backup. Lost his starting spot to Mariani early in the season and never managed to win it back.
AMR: Giacomo Lepri - Played nothing like he did last year, and will need to prove himself or he will be sold in january.
ST: Luigi Scotto - Injuried for most of the season, but still grabbed a goal in the last few league games. Had to let him go due to insane wage demands.
ST: Paulo Menso - Young stiker brought in on loan to cover for Robin Leger. Did allright and grabbed a goal. Also played on the wings.

Youth:

DC: Jorge Soares - Developed really nice and played well in Pagano's absence. Will be a tight duel between them for the starting spot next season.
DC/DL: Pierluigi Fuser - The Pontedera youth-product played OK when needed, but should really be tutored to get his mentals up and speed up his development.

All in all a wonderful season, and I am really looking forward to the struggle it will be playing in Serie B. Loving this challenge so far!

Club history:

Code:

Season

Team

League

Final Position

Notes

2012/2013

Città di Pontedera

Serie C2/A

6th

Lost in Play-off finals

2013/2014

Città di Pontedera

Serie C2/A

1st

Promotion

2014/2015

Città di Pontedera

Serie C1/B

1st

Promotion

Will add screenshots of players later tonight.

Last edited by siLKEAPE; 15-11-2011 at 19:55.
Reason: Screenshots of players added

Had to strengthen the squad and, most importantly, stay within the wage budget in front of this season.
Had to turn down a few really good players willing to play for us because of their demanding wages, but I am still satisfied with our transferwindow.

New signings:

GK: Francesco Sollo - New backup goalkeeper. Won't be playing much if Sergio picks up where he left off last season.
RB: Andrea Benetti - Backup at RB. If Simoni Mariani fails to meet the level in Serie B, this will be my RB this season.
DC: Sorin Zaha - Young and talented DC. Primarily backup, but hopefully he will still develop some.
LB: Lucien Tchany - New LB, straight in to the starting XI. Really satisfied with this capture.
DMC: Patrice Noukeu - Experienced and strong midfielder. Pushing Matteo Calamai out of the anchorman role, but things might change.
AMC: David Guerin - New AMC! Lacking some mental skills, but I still think he will do the job as playmaker.
AMR/ST: Emmanuele Ferrari - Big talent, really excited to see how he develops. Should get alot of first team action this season due to Hugo Lopes being both injury-prone and varying in performances.
ST: Alessandro Pieroni - HUGE talent, and will play alot in the lone striker role this season. Has started the season immense and hopefully he will continue to develop in the Pontedera jersey.

All transfers arrived for free, but I am most satisfied with the capture of the young italians Ferrari and Pieroni. Hopefully they will go on to be Pontedera legends!

Thanks 5ergio, I have a very young team and it takes time to settle, and good luck in the rest of your season.
Well done on promotion siLKEAPE and good luck in Serie B.
Unlucky losing the game tommy1872, you've made a good start with Clyde, WD.
Tough season but well done on surviving in the top division TanO.
Congrats n getting to the bundesliga toonbalmy87

As for me, sorry I haven't done an update yet for last season, I'm well into the next season already.
A little taster of the current season (gives a lot away but meh). Gutted to go out in the League Cup like this, only to get revenge in the league.

Tano - congrats on surviving in the top flight. Always the only objective in the first season. Should help build the foundations for your rise up the league.Tommy1872 - congratulations on your first time promotion. Sure you will go on and achieve it again next season.Crispy Paul - welcome to Germany. Good luck with Trier – nice to see another non-Red Bull team in action!! silKEAPE - congrats on the double promotion! I have always found there not to be too much of a step up to C1. There is a step into Serie B though – good luck achieving a good league position next season. The rise in leagues should hopefully help in the finance stakes.

Stuart Brawls, Seregno 2016-17, Season 5, Serie B

I was hoping to get to the first round of the competition again for the big prize money and hopefully some good gate receipts.
Undortunately i relaised all to late that i had agreed to friendly against Inter reserves only 2 days before the 2nd Qualifying Round of the Cup.
As a result our players were all very tired and we did well to take fellow Serie B side Varese to extra time after a 1-1 draw.
The tiredness showed more during extra time and we fell to a 2-1 defeat and crashed out of the cup at the first hurdle.

League

After keeping all the key players from last seasons 6th place in Serie B plus several key additions to strengthen the team and the squad we looked in good shape going into the new Serie B season.
We started off in fantastic form as we raced to the top of the table only suffering defeat against recently relegated Torino which was the only game we even looked liked losing as we were playing excellent.
We reached the halfway stage of the season top of the table and 10 points clear of Torino.
The start of the second half of the season saw us again lose to Torino but we still continued to pick up valuable wins and draws to keep the points ticking over.
The further into the season we got the more we seemed to struggle as at first we started drawing more games than we had previously but we still maintained a healthy points gap over 2nd which was constantly changing now between Torino and Ascoli.
Our form however declined further as we picked up a few defeats including 2 in a row against fellow promotion challengers (we never even looked like getting anything out of these games as we played that bad).
Our points lead had now dropped to 7 points with 5 games remaining after the 2 consectutive defeats to Cesena and Ascoli.
It was at this point i got all the players together for a team meeting to address the drop in form and this seemed to rally the troops into action.
Dekker refound his form, Kyeremateng found form when he had shown none up until this point and the team refound its form.
All this result in us winning the all of the final 5 league games convincingly and without conceeding a goal.
This meant that we were promoted with 4 games to go and were crowned champions with 3 games remaining.
We ended the season as Serie B Champions with a final points gap of 14 over second placed Ascoli, conceeding the least number of goals in the league and scoring the second most as well.

Filippo Perucchini - Our main keeper who was excellent again throughout the season and finished with 24 clean sheets. Salim Mansouri - Another unhappy backup keeper who doesnt was to warm the bench, has potential though to improve.Valentino Ostieri - Our first choice right back who continues to improve. Has played the most games for the club since i picked him up in the 1st season in Serie C2/A. Excellent Season. Riccardo Gentili - Backup right back who made a couple of substitute appearances.Gijs Damen - A regular last season in our defence but with the form of Ostieri and the new additions at centre back he didn't figure much this season.Loic Fournier - Signed in the summer and performed as i had hoped. Excellent season.Ionel Neagu - Also signed in the summer and he also had an excellent seasonDeian Boldor - Hardly figured due to the new signings and will leave in the summer when his contract runs out.Carlo Scalera - Played alot leass than he had done in previous seasons and was mostly used as cover at left back.Graziano Sinato - Squad player he didn't really feature and will also be on his way out in the summer. Roger - Signed in the summer, Roger went straight in as our main left back and did well picking up a few assists and MOM performances. Guerino Stella - Another player who figured significantly less than in previous season. Still has a lot of potential in which to improve.Armando Di Matteo - Played mainly as a DMC which is probably why he didn't get as many assists as he could have done. Has bags of potential.Gabriele Piromalli - Signed in the summer and was used as cover in the centre of midfield. Didn't provided too much though when he was used. Noel Henauer - Signed midway through the season as he was too good not to get. Did ok this season and at 19 he has the potential to be a good Serie A DMC. Dennis Humbel - Another Swiss midfielder i picked up midway through the season. Dennis also did ok and has the potential to be a good Serie A midfielder.Alberto Gerbo - Paid 30k for him at the start of the season and did well getting 4 goals and assists.Girolamo Gentile - At 60k he was our record signing though i have to say he was probably our biggest disappointment with his contribution of 2 goals and assists.Diogo Ferreira - Another great season creatively from Diogo as he picked up 11 assists, the most of anybody this season.Agostino Caricola - Wasn't in my plans for first team football so accepted a 20k co-ownership offer from Cosenza. He has since done well there with 8 goals in 16 appearances.Giovanni Kyeremateng - Injuries and very poor form at the start of the season meant Giovanni didn't play much this season. Then all of a sudden he got 4 goals in the last 3 games.Cedric Lazaar - Signed in the summer with the aim of him being my second striker alongside Dekker. However he didn't perform as well as i expected. Still he picked up 7 goals.Florian Oswald - Requested first team football at the beginning of the season and i actually agreed to his request and he promised to deliver on the pitch. He did deliver picking up several goals and assists in the following games before his form dropped off and he got dropped again. Rene Dekker - Another great season for Dekker as he bagged 18 league goals which saw him finish equal 3rd in the Serie B scoring chart.

The Future

I'm delighted to have been promoted and to get to play in Serie A.
I just need to continue to develop the team and the facilities and ensure that we survive in Serie A.

It also means that our brand new 9425 capacity stadium, that we move into in 1 months time, will see top flight football.

Well Castilla ended up having to break the points record to win the league with 90pts (We had 88), previous record was 84pts...We also destroyed our own goalscoring record as we smashed 118 goals in this season. So off to the playoffs once more...

It's great to see so many people getting involved, and so many doing pretty well as well. Congrats to all that have been doing well, don't let your heads drop to those doing not so well, and good luck to those just starting out

[plug class="shameless"]I have started a thread intended to be a compliment to the Records thread for chronicling the CSE Dream XI. Might I suggest you guys go have a gander and see if you want to be included?[/plug]

League Summary
Well after a slow start managed to actually go on a winning streak which by December i was into Europa league place 5th. After Christmas my form was still there and in Jnauary i decided to ship my best striker out because i couldnt really turn £5million down for him plus i noticed Big AC would come to me which was a shocker but he was transfer listed and Loan listed so i got him on loan for 800k and i pay 40% of his wages which i thought was the perfect deal tbh it took him 4 games to get use to the league but after that he was firing them in the back of the net but as expected my teams form started to dwindle and a loss to Mainz pushed us down to 7th which is where we finished and tbh i am really happy with that because we finished above bigger teams and i was expected to finish 18th but my boys out done themselves so hopefully next season we will get into Europe

Another great progression made by Alicante, Predicited 20th we really showed the media how far weve come in such little time, I had to release some players to free up wages to sign some key players which were vital in our season.

The 1st half of this season we were struggerling to hold a mid table spot, but after Christmas we managed to string afew wins together and found our self flirting with the play-offs, although we never did manage to push for automatic promotion. We were lucky to finish where we did due to afew poor performances towards the end of the season.

The play-offs were fun but also cruel, we won the Semi's 5-1 on agg, then the 1st leg of the final and we were 4-0 at half time but managed to score 2 goals in the 2nd half. The 2nd leg we won 2-0 and i thought we would go into extra time, but i was wrong..we had lost the game due to us being the lower seeded team.

Nothing major to report, i dont really have any youth prospects to mention either. Although i would like to share with you the 1 player that stood out from the rest, the player my board sold to Rangers F.C for £2.7m Matija Smrekar.

My scouts came back to me with a report of a Barcelona player who wanted away, but i couldn't afford his transfer fee nor loan fee then got offered me to for free. Rodri, was a blessing in disguise as he is now my replacement for departing Smrekar and i do not need to search for 1.

The season started slowly and I thought that I would be in for another difficult season after no win in the first 5 games, however, from then until the winter break the team managed to pick up a lot of wins and only had sporadic defeats. After the winter break we had a difficult start again without a win for the first 3 games, but after that we took up the same pattern as before. The major problem during the season has been concedeing goals, granted this is the least that we have conceded in my time at the club, however, the team only managed 6 clean sheets and 3 of them came in the last 4 games. This didn't affect our goal scoring though and meant that for the first time I finished a season with a positive goal difference. I'm really happy that we finished so high because I thought this season was to be a struggle due to the wage budget cut that was imposed but I made the most of the resources and theadbare squad.

This season the wage budget was down from £17.5k p/w to £13.5k p/w and i was spending £15.5k compared to £20k p/w last year. This was helped by the offset of Welkinho who scored 23 goals and got 17 assists for £450k and his £2k wages. Also my Estonian winger Tarassenkov left who was on £950 p/w as was Parfait Beka who left in January for £100k. I don't really have any more players that I want to get shut of because I won't have enough players. My balance is woeful at -£1.3M but I have no idea what is going to be done to affect that but I hope that the board don't cut my budget again as I'm sure that I will have no players able to play for me.

GK'sVitaly Astakhov - Starting GK but replaced at the end of the season, lost his ability to save anything and only manged 3 clean sheets.Reuben Ncube- Took over for the last 6 games and got himself 3 clean sheets in those appearances, will probably be number one next season.

DefendersRoman Darchiev - Number one right back for the season, not the best but will hopefully improve next year.Anton Tretjakov - Became left back after he joined in january, could have done better but will be good next year hopefully.Sergey Perunov - Was starting left back until Tretjakov joined and will be a good back-up.Evgeny Sevastjanov - The best defender at the club and played really well yet again, if I can keep him he will be the clubs record appearance holder.Pavel Mogilevskiy - Played sporadically at centre back, but now a bit old and don't think he will be playing that much again.

MidfieldersVyacheslav Filimonov - Played left midfield for the majority of the season and he plays ok but its the area I would most like to improve.Andrey Pavlov - Right midfielder who topped the assists charts for the team and did a really good job dispite his stats.Stanislav Khan - Played solidly for the most part of the season, good at defending but his attacking play leaves something to be desired.Tchocomar Sidibe - Played well and got quite a few assists, however, due to the foreign player limit he didn't get the games I would like him to play.Armen Abartsumyan - Again played well this season but still needs to get more assists, and he misses so many shots.

AttackersArthur Trifonov 'YP2' - Scored 10 goals and got 9 assists in 22 starts for a player that was 15 for most of the season. Could become a legend at the club if I manage to keep him for a while.Marcelino Armando Comboio - Started the season up front with Jabá but got injured for a few months and never got his place back from Trifonov.Jabá - Was outstanding this season with 28 goals, he broke the most goals scored in a season and became the clubs top goalscorer. He also won the First Division POTY and top goalscorer by scoring 9 more than his closest rival. Also won Fan's POTY.

Cup

Lost in the first round we entered yet again meaning I have only played 4 cup games in 3 seasons.

Other

The best of the dross that came through the youth route was Dmitry Golubev 'YP3'. Season tickets and attendance stayed around the same.

siLKPEAPE - Congrats on back to back promotions ! Your formation looks very similar to the one I had a lot of success with, only difference in mine was I moved one of the DMCs up to MC-Box to Box midfielder but he played so deep most of the time he was level with my DM anyway.

StellaF1 - Best of Luck playing Serie A football in your new stadium

Macshimmy - Good Luck in Scotland

LLR - good luck in the playoffs

Toonbalmy87 - Good job finishing 7th, nice to see a formation with 3 at the back actually working, I've never managed to do it.

Danger_Mouse - Good solid season, I reckon you'll be promoted next year

Flashman - Great season considering you had to do more with less after getting the budget cut. Finances only really seemed to get sorted in my game when you have either a cup run or high league finishes once you hit the premier division.

StellaF1 - congratulations on making Serie A - and so quickly too. hopefully you can achieve survival and build on rom there next season.LLR - good luck in the play-offs mate. fingers crossed for you.toonbalmy87 - great first season in the Bundesliga! good luck for the european push next season. interesting formation you have got there. got yourself a couple of good strikers too.danger_mouse - unlucky in the play-offs mate. you still have to be really happy with the start you have made though. good luck next season.Flashman - great step forward in Russia this season and unlucky on the play-offs. Trifonov looks a decent prospect - hopefully with nurturing and game time he can develop into a good player for you.

CrispyPaul Good luck in Germany!siLKEAPE Looks like good progress in Italy, seems like you have quite a few talented youngsters to build aroundStellaF1 Good luck in Serie A!toonbalmy87 Great first season in the Bundesliga!danger_mouse Unlucky in the playoffs, definately look like you're on the way to competing with the big boys in SpainFlashman Good season in Russia, it's definately difficult to break out of the 1st division

Saving Salerno

Midnight of June 28th, 2012, Salerno, Italy
They must be pretty desperate to hire me if I'm being honest. I mean, look at this curriculumvitae. I certainly am not well known but really, to hire an American for this is pretty obnoxious. Sure, they're not doing so well, look at this:Granata eh? My translation dictionary tells me that this translates to "grenade", how appropriate since that is what I'm about to open up on this poor club. Oh wait, my nonexistent assistant tells me that it's actually the color Garnet after their uniform color. Boring.

The previous management was something of a disaster as you can see by their recent past. Check out this graph:
In the season 2009-10 the club was relegated to Serie C with 6 point deduction for match fixing.

Notice how they did in the 2011/2012 season? No? Yeah, that's because they melted down with the financial crisis. On July 21, 2011 the mayor of Salerno chose the proposal of the company Morgenstern S.r.l. administered by Gianni Mezzaroma making so born the new team Salerno Calcio to represent the city in Serie D. Before this, they were one of the few Italian companies, in 92 years, never to have fought under the third level of the Italian league. So last year kind of sucked for them. Now they have managed to crawl back up from the mire of Serie D and the only person in the world they can find to manage them is some backwoods footballer from Oklahoma. Now it's my job to try and turn them around from their disgraces and get them back to higher than they've ever been before.

It's going to be a lot of work. Hell, I don't even have a staff right now. Other than the chairman I have one scout on staff. At least he seems to know the locals pretty well. I wonder if he can help me find some good wine, I'm going to need it...

Well into the last game of the playoffs:
1st Round: 5:4 agg over Badajoz Away - 2:1, Home 3:3
2nd Round 2:2 away over Albacete Away - 1:2, Home 1:0
3rd Round 1st Leg Away vs At Madrid B - 4:3 (So a lead as we head home...)

Thanks for the comments Amethyst21 and Brettney1980.
TanO - I experimented with this formation in the demo and found it to work well even with lower league teams. I sometimes pull my AMC down to MC and move the DMC's up to MC to create a wider attacking formation. Very satisfied with the flexibility of this system.

18Rabbit, that is one of the most engaging introductory posts I've read in a long time. Not to say other people's have been bad, but I actually thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Are your end-of-season reports going to be in a similar style? Because that could well be awesome.

We got through the first two rounds of the Coupe de la ligue at home to Ligue 2 opposition but when faced with Havre in the third round we lost 1-0. We made a poor start to the season yet again as we lost 7 of our first 15 games after a 3 match losing run, I was thinking another mid table finish. After our struggle in the Cup 7th round we won 4-2 at Nantes (who were a bogey team before then), and never looked back. Bearing in mind we lost 7 of the first 15 we then lost only 2 and drew 3 of the next 23, winning 18 in that time. If it wasn't for our poor start we would have walked the league and actually the top 3 finished way above everyone else as it was. It certainly would have been nice to beat our parent club to the title, the link was terminated during the close season.

French Cup - 11th round

We struggled at National side Tours in the 7th round only getting through on penalties. We laboured past two more lower league sides in the 8th and 9th rounds before being drawn away at PSG inthe 10th round. Somehow we went into half time 1-0 up, then in the 57th minute they were down to 10 men, but equalised in the 70th minute. I was expecting all out attack from them but that didn't happen and we snatched it injury time. We were drawn away again at Ligue 1 LEMANS FC, no such luck as we went out 1-0.

Transfers - We made over £14m net on transfers over the season. Obviously I was disappointed to see the three big outs go, I struggled to find a good keeper to replace Asheim, I had players already to replace the other two. Rouault leaves as a club icon but soon disappears off that list.Rouault's history.

Just survived my first ever board takeover. Last year my Dafuge's Challenge club had a promotion from within, but not someone external buying the club.

The new chairman took his sweet time deciding whether to let me continue, and given my success so far, I'd have been a bit miffed if I'd been replaced. However, everything's ok, and he's agreed that we should go professional from the start of next season, which if nothing else should allow me to sign the players to full time contracts and see them improve. He also pumped a bit of extra money into the club; not that we particularly needed it. I just need for decent enough players to spend it on.

Stefano Pazzarelli - Città di Pontedera

After a few games in which our defence appeared shaky, I focused on defensive positioning for the next match. I would never have dreamed for it to end like this!
The 17 year old Emmanuele Ferrari is really making a name for himself and it will be hard to keep him in January.

18Rabbit, that is one of the most engaging introductory posts I've read in a long time. Not to say other people's have been bad, but I actually thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Are your end-of-season reports going to be in a similar style? Because that could well be awesome.

Thanks, yes I will endeavor to make them more like diary entries. I also realized after I posted it that in game I accidentally kept the settings from a throwaway manager I was goofing off with and that I am a female manager that doesn't speak Italian. Whoops.

tommy1782, Promotion in the first season! Keep it up.TacticalGenius, Good luck with RB Leipzig.G-Wiz, If you manage to secure a better defensive record, you might push up with ease.ArranoBeltza, Lovely finish up top! Good luck vs the big boys.toonbalmy87, Lovely performance. Solid mid table, should be enough to see you grap a Euro spot next season.TanO, Good survival mate. Hold tight for one more season and you'll be good.Crispypaul, Good luck with Trier in Germany mate.silkeape, Lovely performance in Serie C1, nearly identical to my season Good in luck in Serie B.StellaF1, Let's hope Dekker keeps his form for Serie A. It'll be a tough fight up there. Good luck.danger_mouse, That seeding rule is bad! Solid season and you should get promoted this time around.Flashman's School Days, Close one mate. That Jaba should get you promoted this year though!18Rabbit, Good luck in Italy with Salerno. Let's hope that scout has a good knowledge or you'll have to taste some bad wines before finding the right one Almondo, Nice mid table stability there. You have the squad to move forward it seems. A few touches here and there and voila!berty1978, Good promotion and an award to boot up with it! Excellent run of form mid way through the season. Now, if only you can get it rolling all the year.

My season report for 13-14 shall come in an hour or two. We have good news from Istanbul, Turkey! You might've guessed a little bit about that if you have checked the CSE Dream XI thread

The League:
So... For those who have seen my short mid season ramblings, we managed to pick up a good form after a shaky start. 4-3-3 wasn't meant to be played at this level it seemed and an attacking flat 4-4-2 worked wonders. We have managed a 6 match win streak, lost one and went on without losing till we clinch the title with 2 weeks to go. Switched the players a bit to give the subs a run out in that second to last game, got a red in the first 10 minutes and lost the streak at 19th game.

The Cup:After last years 1st Round quit, I didn't rotate too many players for 1st Round this time. Also the team was in the middle of our 6 win streak so we beat a non-league side with ease and proceeded to January for the rest of the matches. I regarded those matches as a mini-pre-season before second half but I guess the players reacted differently, getting us to 5th Round beating Kızılcahamam of 1st Div & Gaziantepspor of Premier just before getting knocked out by Orduspor of Premier again.

The Finance:
By bringing in some quality players, I had a bigger wage budget than last year. The cup run granted us some extra income but the graph doesn't look good to be honest even though I haven't still picked up the award money for this season.

The Starting XI:

Murat Kalkan: Primary choice at goal, tried to deliver his best when he was not injured. I got a GK joining in July so I am asssuming he won't feature much in our 1st Div campaign unfortunately.

Fatih Sandalli: Decent enough for 2nd Div, Fatih did a solid job defensively even though he is barely existant in attacks.Tuncay Sertel: He was labeled as a one for the future last season but I couldn't have gone blind to his progress. Totally deserved to play as a starter and he was the mind in defense, playing the ball to forward mostly.Kadir Demir: Last years FPotY, my near post man in attacking corners, scored as much as he missed and played solid defensively. Currently holding a place in CSE Dream XI Tufan Karadag: Signed as an alternative to Mertgül, the starting DL last season, but he grabbed the spot with ease. Signed another DL in January because of Mertgül's constant injuries. I may strengthen the squad in both full backs position for 1st Div.

Baris Memis: The star of the last season, the creative force in the right wing. Played at MR as opposed to his prefered position of AML, he has performed admirably with 7 goals and 17 assists. Top assister of the league with 16.Muhammet Çaglar: The captain, my maestro at midfield, not creatively but his linking of the lines is immense at this level. Solid 6 goals and 8 assists from midfield even though he is not played as free as he likes to. Gets unhappy with his training every now and then claiming he should work more on his shooting when I have him on a box to box schedule.Satilmis Çölbekler: The ball winning partner of Muhammet in midfield. 3 long range beauties are extra for his consistent performance.Anil Koç: Excellent prospect for future. Tried my best to sign him last season and he provided what was expected of him in his spare time apart from the national team. He missed pre season, playing in U20 World Cup, taking Turkey to semis, missed a couple of games in the season as well playing in U19 Euro Qualifications. Still has a lot of room to improve and 12 goals, 11 assists is an excellent starting point. 7th in assists in league. Young Player of the Year. Player of the Year.

Aykut Güler: Signed from Gaziosmanpaşa last year, labeled as having Premier potential, the guy is suitable for a target man but his finishing efforts are better used as a poacher in this division. Excellent season, 25 goals and 8 assists when he was not expected to play others for goals. 2nd in top scorers for league, 1 goal short to tie.Murat Akgül: Literally the second striker of the team, playing more as a support as much as looking for his own opportunities. 11 goals and 15 assists is his awesome contribution as I was not expecting him to assist that much. Tied 3rd in assists.

The Notables:Ekrem Kahya: The experienced versatile midfielder was my ultimate sub. Played in 4 different positions throughout the year and never disappointed. Also coaching the team.Kayhan Arduç: The sub midfielder, equally skillful as Satilmis, but more on the building front instead of winning the ball. With his precious "Likes to Switch the Ball to Other Flank" PPM, he displayed some crucial performances in the season. The red card in the second to last game was his and that ended his season badly.Selim Yavas: Started with him partnering Tuncay at back but he eventually lost his place to Kadir after a few games. With a long term injury halting his progress, I regret he won't get to the heights I expected him last season.Tural Narimanov: Back up left winger, Azeri national, was under the shadow of Anil for most of the season but his performances were nothing sort of him. His age hinders his chances of a starting XI though so I may have him for one more season, maybe.Zafer Sensoy: Another versatile midfielder, mainly played on right wing but his skills allow for other positions as well. Steady sub to have in the squad.

The Youth:I have signed a few young players in the season. With the ones joining last year and this year's April intake, I have hopes for 4 players to perform in 1st Div when required.

Burak Yildiz: The highlight of the champion U18 side. 36 goals and 16 assists is immense even in U18 matches. Not sure if I should induct him to the 1st Div team or let him destroy the U18 one more year for a good development.Fatih Kaya: This guy was expected to become my first choice AMC when I switched to a 4-2-3-1. Sadly though, he broke his leg and out for 6-7 months now. Here's hoping it won't hinder his progress too much.Nevzat Yasa: Last year's one to watch manage to nearly halt his progress with his injuries. He was out for a total of 4 months in the season, never had a long enough spell to get his training and match form to full.Tuncay Genis: This years best player from the intake. Only 15 as of now with bags of flair and working attitude. If I manage to get him build his physical and technical attributes, he'll be a good competition to Anil Koç.

Here's the big picture of the senior squad: Squad1 & Squad2
In general, we have 5 players in the top 10 average ratings of the 2nd Division and that enabled us to win the league for sure.

I also have a few transfers lined up that were concluded before I get promoted: Future Transfers Most are young offensive players with only a goalkeeper and a right back in that list. The foreign allowance will alter my stance on transfers this season though.

The Season to Come:
- Get a feel for the division ahead at first and try to get a decent run before mid season to prevent a relegation battle in the last weeks.
- Try to have a decent cup run again. The financial rewards could prove crucial.
- Let's hope the fans show up more. 100+ ticket holders and only around 500 average fans are bad given we have a 5k stadium and we are paying a rent for it.

P.S: Good news are coming as I progress through. Wage budget has been upped to €24K from €16K. The promotion wage rise clauses didn't activate yet though so it might be tricky. Also granted a €90K for finishing first, meaning that reward money from cup is crucial again.

18rabbit - welcome and good luck with Salerno. like the style of your introduction... and our first(??) female manager!! berty1978 - congrats on promotion to Ligue 1. good luck next season.Almondo - well done on a more than respectable finish in La Liga. hopefully you can push on a little towards the European places next season.5ergio - well done for the championship. good luck next season.

Premier Division
Overall, I’m very happy with 10th. We were never in danger of relegation, spending most of the season in mid-table security. We even led the table briefly after a storming start in which we won our first 3 games. 5 defeats on the trot brought us down to earth but our form then stabilised, so much so that I was confident enough to change the board expectations mid-season from ‘avoid relegation’ to ‘mid-table finish’. Among the highlights of our first season in the big time were comprehensive home and away wins over fellow Ankara side Gençlerbirliği, a thrashing of Bursaspor and a lucky win over Beşiktaş. Towards the end of the season, it looked like we might sneak into the 5th-8th place play-offs but our form dipped in the last few weeks and we dropped out of contention. Still, very happy with our final placing.Final Table

Turkish Cup
As a Premier League side, we got a bye to the 4th Round. However, we ended up with tough draw as we went away to fellow top flight side Sivasspor. We gave them a good game, twice coming from behind with the second goal coming in the dying moments of normal time. No goals in extra time meant penalties and we missed our very last kick meaning we are still yet to have a decent cup run.

The Squad: Transfers
I didn’t spend a penny but still brought in a lot of new faces to bolster the squad for the Premier League. Many of the new faces were young and can only get better as they get older. Most of the departures were older players or those not quite cut out for this level. Our striking options could have done with some improvement as none of my forwards here able to find the net consistently. Our goalscoring hero from the lower division, Hacimustafaoğlu, may have to leave in the summer as he struggled to adapt to the higher level a lot.

The Squad: Key PlayersJosé Carlos Ada (DC) – our most consistent performer in a young backline. Settled in well and I will look for more of the same next year.Ralf Heller (DC/DM) – my scouts spotted this youngster at the Euro U21 chaöpionship and he immediately became a key player. His ability to play in central defence or the holding position in midfield was vital when we struggled with injuries or players losing form.Joe Marshall (AMR/C) – without doubt, the star of the season! The young American had no trouble adapting to life at his new club and contributed goals and assists on a consistent basis. A fan favourite already!

The Squad: Ones to WatchMahir Hasanov came in on a free in January from his native Azerbijan (great as he doesn’t count as foreign under league rules!) and did well in the games he played in. Another January signing was ex-Manchester City youth player and World U20 Cup winner Nicky Woodford. He made a great start with a hat-trick on his debut and, even though the goals were harder to come by after that, I believe he can be a key player for the club in the near future. Hakan Konak also had a decent first season at the club and finished with a strong run in the side.

The Season Ahead…
I’ll be happy with another season of mid-table safety as we try to develop our young players a bit more. Despite sepnding most of the season well over the wage budget, the TV money and prize money meant the club made a good profit and I have persuaded the board to training and youth upgrade facilities as a result. I have also been promised a transfer budget in excess of 6 million TL. A new striker will be a priority as will full backs.

Thanks for the words of ecouragement from everyone but i've just been given my budgets for the new season and it has been cut from £13.5k to £11.5k. I will have to push hard this season because I don't think I could afford a team with any less money next year.

well thats the end of an other good season as we managed to slip in to 4th place in the play offs semi final we got dundee i thought we had no chance but i got prove wrong we beat them 6-2 on agg so we got to the final and got livingston we beat them 4-3 on agg as for the cups we got put out the first round of the leauge cup by ayr we managed to make it to the 2nd round of the challenge cup but got put out by partick thistle 1-0 as for the scottish cup we got to the 4th round and got put out by st mirren 5-0

Stephan Platzek - Signed as cover for both right and left back positions, played more often than I thought he would. He's good and developing well thanks to first team football

Francesco Marchetti - The replacement for Ruben, has the potential to be amazing and is touted as the next Daniele Bonera. I've made him vice captain already with the hope that he'll take to it and be able to lead the side very soon.

Season Summary

I decided to take a big risk and let 7 squad players leave for just 2 replacements, which left us with a good but small squad. It was the only way I could afford the quality of Marchetti and offer new contracts to the best players I already had. Fortunately we didn't have any major injuries in the season and the gamble paid off. Marchetti seems a born leader and the perfect replacement for Ruben.

I changed our pitch to the minimum allowed to try and make things easier for our defense and it seemed to work. We had a good start to the season but our form slid a bit near the end pushing us down the table. The finances are starting to look a bit better now though and with our new stadium next year and hopefully a higher finish we might have money in the bank for the first time.

First Team

GK - Tiago Martins - Continues to grow in stature and match the progression of the club

LB - Edilson - Still not really living up to his potential but will do for now
CB - Mohamed Akfir - He has his moments where I wonder whats going through his head but is generally solid
CB - Francesco Marchetti - A rock in defense
RB - Mario Rui - One of the first names on the team sheet, sometimes plays right mid in games where I need the ball won high up the pitch

CM - Chinedu Okoro - Gradually getting better and learning his role in the team, could be the midfielder I've been searching for
RM - Felipe - Good right winger but doesn't get enough assists, could be my tactics tho

AML - Valdinho - Is a useful player to get the ball out to but often is selfish when he should cross
AMC - Cristian Ponde - A talisman for the team, had a fantastic season

STR - Jaguare - Was captain this season and I think the pressure got to him a bit

Aims for next season :
Solid mid table finish, turn the new stadium into a fortress !

Thanks for all the messages regarding my latest end of season report and our promotion to Serie A.

After spending a lot of time scouting and bringing in some new players i have finally got round to starting the new season.

Just played our first match and was delighted that we beat Sampdoria 2-1 at home (they finished 6th last year) but then check my inbox to find this.
Well thats gone and stuffed things up completely for me! Suppose i only have myself to blame though for not checking whose contracts were coming up for renewal in a years time and instead spending all my time trying to bring in new players.

My first season in the Bundesliga as Leipzig isn't going so great. The board expects us to avoid relegation and we're currently 5 points ahead in 15th before the last match of this half of the season. Probably could be doing better, but I am getting the **** kicked out of me by injuries right now. This is an overview of my treatment table so far this season:

Pavel Zavadil (18 yr old wide midfielder who I mainly rotate at ML)- out for 4 weeks with a twisted ankle. Also missed 4 weeks beginning August 3 with with a twisted ankle and then another 2 weeks due to a thigh strain in September.

Marcel Pleimling (young backup DC, good prospect)- out 1-3 more days with a sprained ankle, total injury time of 5 weeks

Can Tomac (a main poacher and one of the few players who has put in some steady performances for me)- out 1 to 3 more days with a dislocated shoulder, total injury time of 2 months

Sven Noguera (my big target man, great prospect, and one of my favorite ever FM players)- out 4 to 5 weeks with a hernia...just as he started playing well at this level

Injured earlier

Noam Maillard (A superb young newgen DC I bought in the pre-season)- got a back strain in late July and missed 4 weeks, keeping him out of my first few games

My first season in the Bundesliga as Leipzig isn't going so great. The board expects us to avoid relegation and we're currently 5 points ahead in 15th before the last match of this half of the season. Probably could be doing better, but I am getting the **** kicked out of me by injuries right now. This is an overview of my treatment table so far this season:

Pavel Zavadil (18 yr old wide midfielder who I mainly rotate at ML)- out for 4 weeks with a twisted ankle. Also missed 4 weeks beginning August 3 with with a twisted ankle and then another 2 weeks due to a thigh strain in September.

Marcel Pleimling (young backup DC, good prospect)- out 1-3 more days with a sprained ankle, total injury time of 5 weeks

Can Tomac (a main poacher and one of the few players who has put in some steady performances for me)- out 1 to 3 more days with a dislocated shoulder, total injury time of 2 months

Sven Noguera (my big target man, great prospect, and one of my favorite ever FM players)- out 4 to 5 weeks with a hernia...just as he started playing well at this level

Injured earlier

Noam Maillard (A superb young newgen DC I bought in the pre-season)- got a back strain in late July and missed 4 weeks, keeping him out of my first few games

Well financially we have climbed back a little bit this season, but given that we have made a €300k profit which includes €300k worth of player sales and €600k worth of board investment, so a big hole is still there. Hopefully a season in Liga Adelante can help this because right now following the sale of Vignali, who we had no choice but to get rid of, we need a new striker to partner Herlein. The young Italian was demanding a transfer and teams were willing to offer 200k which we needed desperately. He left before our final playoff matches, but we got through anyway. I have got below the forced low wage budget, but it has been tough as shown by the fact my youth players have a combined 87 appearances it was a bit of a tough season, but I think they showed themselves as reasonable players and the rest of the team stepped up. Herlein led as only a captain can, he ended the season with 38 goals from 44 games, his first season without an injury and he only missed a single league game through suspension. I hope he will stick around in the future and lead us up the table in Liga Adelante as well.

The League

Well we opened off the season with a 5 nil victory over Albacete, and we continued from there to go unbeaten through 10 games, a brilliant start to the season and we managed to get similar results through the whole year, it looked for a while like we could run away, but a small dip in the mid season saw Castilla start to get away and us drop back towards the chasers, but in the end we came home strong and Castilla fell off meaning on the final day if we won and they drew the title would be ours. In the end it was not to be as Castilla scored their 2nd goal at 90+3 to confirm the title heading to the North side of Madrid. We made it into the playoffs, but it took a record breaking effort from Castilla to beat us out in the title hunt, but we still scored a lot more goals than they did. In the end it didn't matter as we went the long way through the playoffs and took out Albacete, Badajoz & At.Madrid 'B' in a series of stunning results to win promotion to the Liga Adelante, though it does mean we have to face Castilla again. This saw some absolutely ecstatic fans singing my praises, the board were full of praise for the unbelievable promotion & club captain, Herlein came out and praised the huge effort put in by Des Tiny.

Riccardo Cappellari (ITA) - He came in to replace Moldovan who wouldn't sign for a low enough wage. I never expected him to come in and do better straight away. He came out with 33 appearances, he conceded only 37 goals and managed to keep the sheet clean on 12 occasions.

Defenders

Guilliaume Dumast (FRA) - The French Leader at the back ended up injured and then he never made it back into the team as Marin & Ozlu took over and led the club through. Dumast will look to fight home into the spot, but its possible he will be sold. 5G 1A.

Anthony Marin (FRA) - A solid season from the 'other' Frenchman at the back, Marin looked good throughout the year. A real difference was made by our centre backs in the way they controlled the games. 3G 1A.

Juan Francisco Aranda (ESP) - The right back is the best Spanish player in our team, and he managed some great efforts this season, though he also got injured for a period, but made a great comeback in the playoffs. 0G 6A.

Nuno Malheiro (POR) - Simoes left from in front of him and Malheiro stepped up and did an amazing job, this performance through the season showed him as a true class DL, he can now play at right back solidly as well. 0G 13A.

Kıvanç Özlü (TUR) - He joined us near the end of October, and was straight in due to injuries and he never really looked back as neither Marin or Dumast could knock him back off the perch that he set himself, the young Turk fits in well with our team. 9G 1A.

Midfielders

Andre Gomes (POR) - A very solid season from the midfielder, I was definitely pleased with his contributions, though he did miss a key penalty which could've won us the title in hindsight. Very good and holds the middle of the park so the others can run the sides. 8G 9A.

Bruno Guillou (FRA) - A strong defensive midfielder definitely helps make a difference, if the opposition can't score then we don't need to score as many, and Guillou helps getting the ball forward as well. 1G 5A.

Taygun Kuru (TUR) - The first Turkish player in our side has continued to run rampant on the left, as soon as Grosjean left he stepped into the vacancy and led the way as the number 1 on assists, he managed to put Herlein in regularly. 7G 26A.

Murat Ogan (TUR) - We added another Turk, and he took the Right wing slot from Grosjean and ran with it, he is never going to be that good, but he is definitely good enough for us to be successful. 5G 4A.

Miguel Herlein (POR) - The captain led from the front, and throughout an incredible season he only missed a single game, and that was due to suspension, I could not ask for more as his goalscoring continued at a close to record pace. 38G 14A.

Riccardo Vignali (ITA) - He left the club on June 11th, but had done pretty well before this, just didn't want to stay so I got rid of him, got a couple of replacements already. 23G 12A.

Stars on Loan

None

The Youth

The Results

Not Entered this Season (Though I definitely asked to be included, have logged it as a bug and they are looking into it, hopefully the move up the ladder helps in this), I did end up arranging friendlies on a regular basis against lower league opposition, but really I want them in the U19s League and Cup as soon as I possibly can get them there.

Jaume - YP2a (ESP) [DRL] - The youngster only played a few games in the youth side, he instead managed 28 appearances for the top side on both sides of the defensive line.

Ivan - YP3a (ESP) [DLC] - He really is not the best player, but is about the best we have this season. 3 Youth Apps for 1G 1MoM & over 7 rating is a good start though.

Patryk Sliwinski (POL) [DC] - I bought this guy in during the season so I had further cover for my central defenders, he barely got any time for the senior side, but he was amazing in his 11 youth games.

Angel - YP1 (ESP) [DM/DC] - 3 senior apps, and a reasonable effort on the under 19s squad, he is never really going to be an amazing prospect.

Roberto Delgado - YP3 (ESP) [DM/MLC] - He is versatile, he has bucket loads of potential and he has an amazing first touch. I am looking to him stepping in behind Gomes in the future.

Koldo Sola (ESP) [ML] - He became the youngest ever goalscorer for Parla this season, and he also managed a great 15 appearances off the bench as well. Sola is hoping to push onwards into the squad for the new season. But the new youth player, Delgado, may fight him for the slot.

Ivan Vilches - YP1a (ESP) [MC/ST] - A very solid season in the U19s side for Vilches, but he really was not up to it for the first team and Juan Carlos ended up as the sub and then starter that the top team needed.

Juan Carlos - YP2 (ESP) [AMC/ST] - He was looking solid for the youth side, but then he had to step in and cover as a starter for quite a few games and ended up managing to score 6 goals for the senior side as he showed he might be able to step up.

The History

A Statistic in the SpotlightThis section will highlight one club leaderboard, and show the top 10, plus the best of the current crop.

Taygun Kuru manages to crack the 50 assist mark during this season and now he will push away from the rest, especially as both his nearest challengers left for 'greener' pastures.

TV Money in this division is well worth it...2.1Million, also I have a stadium expansion because it is compulsory in Liga Adelante, they are installing 4000 terrace seats, not sure if that is just making my stadium seated or if it is additional seats, but anyway it should be completed for 16.04.16, but we have had a match in late April moved because it clashes with the team we are ground-sharing with.

Right, I've not been on here for a couple of days and might I just say "wow". Some great progress being made by everyone, too many posts to mention in all, but there was a 17-year-old Italian striker (potentially in SilkeApe's game) who looks to be all set to become a forum legend.

Also, since it was the last post I read and can remember it, congratulations to LLR on a deserved promotion and a simply staggering end of season report.

I've got a train journey this afternoon so will be looking to crank out a touch of Lusitania Acores. I've not played all week (I can't even blame Skyrim or COD) but I feel the desire coming back.

Well done on the promotion LLR, you should find your finances slowy creep towards the black on Liga Adelante I know I made a profit every month I was in the division Also you got the same odds for the Title that I got in Liga BBVA at 2000-1.

Right, I've not been on here for a couple of days and might I just say "wow". Some great progress being made by everyone, too many posts to mention in all, but there was a 17-year-old Italian striker (potentially in SilkeApe's game) who looks to be all set to become a forum legend.

Originally Posted by siLKEAPE

AMR/ST: Emmanuele Ferrari - Big talent, really excited to see how he develops. Should get alot of first team action this season due to Hugo Lopes being both injury-prone and varying in performances.
ST: Alessandro Pieroni - HUGE talent, and will play alot in the lone striker role this season. Has started the season immense and hopefully he will continue to develop in the Pontedera jersey.

Perhaps one of these two?
They have both gotten fair amounts of playtime, and especially Ferrari impresses me.

TanO, solid position while letting players go. That Marchetti looks very good.Almondo, The big scores started to come, nice! Here's hoping your season goes as good as this result.ArranoBeltza, I know how you feel mate. I got chain injuries to my starting strikers in the last 2 months, every time one of them getting injured.LLR, Solid display and if only Castilla wasn't breaking records it'd have been the perfect season.silkeape, Damn! I hate boards for that, a lot! I have some players wanted by other clubs as well but I hope they won't do the same stupid mistake!

In another news;

- Aykut Güler has been named the FPotY and Best Transfer of The Season in 2nd Div.
- We were given a hefty €1,7M for TV rights
- Tipped 50-1 to gain promotion. Not too shabby, I'd have put some money on that
- Managed to sign my 2 foreigners but I'll introduce them with a season preview update later on.

Thanks for the comments, still took 8 seasons to get there though. Have finished the next season and will do a report when I can and read through others reports, special mention to LLR.
Couldn't resist playing my first match of the next season though before going off to work, and this was the result.
Also in that match Antonio Izzo (born in Vitre and half Italian) nade his debut, Ass. mans report.Broke youngest player records. I want him to become a legend at the club especially as he's a local lad.

Yet another season of cup success. We won the Scottish Challenge Cup (again, and basically with our reserve side this time), we're about to play Rangers in the league Cup Final (though the winners don't qualify for Europe), and we''re in the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup. (Both Rangers and Celtic are out, so we'll have to actually win the thing if we want to qualify for Europe again. Then again, we might just do that). Ok, I confess, we didn't win the UEFA Cup. In fact we got our arses kicked almost straight away, and then the team that kicked our arses got theirs kicked by someone else, and so on.

Still everything is good. Oh, hold on, every now and then we play some other matches. Now what are those matches for?; oh yes, the league. We suck at the First Division. We're probably going to finish in third and well behind the champions again, and only the champions get promoted.

I admit, in our match before the cup final we're playing the league leaders, St Mirren. If we beat them, we'd be 6 points behind with 7 games to go, (but still third). We're looking for a miracle.

UPDATE: Or we could lose 5-0 to St Mirren at home. Thank God we're not playing a First Division club in the League Cup Final next.

FURTHER UPDATE: Ok, so we screwed the pooch against Rangers in the League Cup Final, but we're into the Scottish Cup Final for the second year in a row; this time against Hearts. Unfortunately they're probably going to finish third in the Premier Division, so a Euro-qualifying must win game; not least because I'm a Hibees fan.

Being an arrogant sod, the surprise for me isn’t that we’re well nigh unbeatable in thecups. It’s that we can’t get our act together in the league. It’s not that wedid badly. 70 points from 36 games is usually good enough to win a league in Scotlandon my save. In Divisions 1 to 3 in the 4 seasons so far there have only been 4times when the team winning the division has finished with more than 70 points.The last 2 winners of Division 1, and us.

However, it’s not as though we’re standing still. We had a board takeover, and the clubs going professional at the end of the season. Also if you combine the money they put into the club with the fact that our wage budget is almost three times what we’re spending and we’ve been to 5 cup finals in 2 years; we ain’t skint. Admittedly the amount of money we gain from winning the Challenge Cup could just as easily be found by looking for coins down the back of the sofa, but we’re the Real Madrid of Division 1. Why would we want to go to that horrible scary Premier Division with all those big bullies, when we can just wedgie them in the cups and then run home to mummy.

Having won the Scottish Cup we're in europe again next year. I promise you I'll do better this time. We were knocked out in the UEFA Cup Third qualifying round this year, but this time we're parachuted into the 4th qualifying round, and hopefully seeded so that we avoid all those clubs with an unfair advantage of being better than us.

That has to be the hardest season I've ever had to play on FM. It was one big massive pile of nothingness. I'd go 3-4 games without a win, then go 3-4 games undefeated and rinse and repeat the whole way through the season. We were never going to get relegated or end up in the playouts but we were definitely nowhere near the top 6-7 (who were in another league completely). It was one massive drag to churn through the games knowing that I wasn't going to get any kind of consistency going.

Thanks to the unexpected promotion, I had no money to spend on anything My wage budget was maxed out on promotion so I had no room to move about at all. I don't think I signed anyone until January, and every singe one of those performed at a mediocre level at best. Scappi is supposed to have Serie B potential, but I never saw it...

The star performers:

There were none. Completely average across the board. No-one stood out as being overly good or shockingly bad. How dull.
Finances

Not as bad as they could have been, but that's only because the board invested £357k into the club during the season.

After finally getting my laptop fixed, I decided to do this challenge in Scotland after giving it a go with Annan a couple of years ago.
I was hoping to get Annan again, also due to my cousin living there so been to Galabank a few times, and after 6 or 7 holidays of the season they finally slumped to the bottom of the table
Which meant I was able to take charge of the mighty Galabankies.Manager profile

From memory getting out of the third division isn't too hard a task and I'll be hoping to try and get into the playoffs at least in the first season, although the squad needs some serious overhaul so should be a fair amount of free transfers coming in.

We started the season good and never looked like dropping out of the play-off zone. An amazing unbeaten run of 20 games from 23.11 to 16.4 saw us move up to the top of the table together with Udinese. I really am speechless - I have never ever had such success at this game. Even when the board sold our instrumental AMC on Christmas Eve, my scouts found a cheap replacement that turned out to be even better.

First XI:

GK: Sergio - The young goalkeeper improved a lot this season, and I can only recall him making one mistake this season. Hopefully he can improve further!
RB: Simoni Mariani - This local lad also made impressing progress this season, despite his low determination. I think he will struggle in the Serie A, though!
DC: Mattia Pagano - What a season! Took our Matteo Gandellis spot and never looked back. A massive threat on corners aswell.
DC: Jorge Soares - Insane improvements in his stats this season saw him occupy the other DC spot in our starting XI. Had a few really bad games, but solid overall.
DL: Lucien Tchani - Physical beast! Controlled most of the right wingers he was presented with in this division.

DMC: Jacopo Fortunato - Our captain now has the most league appearences for Pontedera with his 121 games.
DMC: Piotr Towarnicki - Signed this young polish/german midfielder on a free in November, and he broke into the first team in January. Could turn into a leading Serie A midfielder.

AMR: Hugo Lopes - Played better this season than last, but I think he will struggle in Serie A. Might even lose him to Catania in the co-ownership this summer anyway.
AMC: David Lopez Montana - Replaced our former AMC in January. Despite his attitude issues, he turned out to be even better than David Guerin. Awesome player.
AML: Alessandro Pieroni - Played well as inside forward, even if he had a few dips in form. Still only 18 and getting callups for the italian u19-team, this is a lad for the future!
ST: Emmanuele Ferrari - What a season from him! He is also just 18 and was a real "fox in the box" for us this season.

I am so proud of this team, and I am really hoping the board doesn't sell any of the core players behind my back. Can't wait to see how the front 3 develops, especially the two italians.

DMC: Patrice Noukeu - Played well until Towarnicki took his spot in January.
DMC: Mattia Piccinini - Didn't get many chances this season, looking to offload him.

AMR: Giacomo Lepri - Same as above
AML: Giulio Grifoni -Same as above
AMC: Daniele Bessa - Played quite alot as he could function in all the attacking midfielder positions.
ST: Robin Leger - Played well when he had to, but I see no real future for him other than a backup for Pieroni and Ferrari.

After an insane season, the pre-season for Città di Pontedera's first ever season in the Serie A is about to begin. The board planned to build a new stadium, but this was blocked by the city council right away. Instead, they decided to expand our stadium with 2000 seats making the total of 7000 seats in November.

This summer, I was looking to add quality while trimming down the squad size (the reserves were full of back-up players signed when we were in the First or Second Division, none of whom were cut out for this level). In total, 16 players left while 3 more went out on loan. 11 new faces arrived, some for the first team squad and some prospects for the future. For the first time in this career, I spent large transfer fees as well. The players I expect we’ll see in the first team squad are:

Levi Brown (DR) – my first signing of the summer was this young American. Last season’s first choice Tanasin had just left the club after refusing to sign a new contract and my scouts said this kid was just as good, potentially better.Berkan Yemiş (DR) – A German-Turk spotted by one of my scouts. He was without a club so, even though we had signed Brown already, we snapped him up on a free to give some depth.Berkay Tokatli (DRC) – Signed on a free from Gençlerbirliği, this youngster will give us cover in both central defence and on the right.Samet Kalaç (DC) – I first tried to sign this guy when he was 19 but he opted to join Şanlı Urfaspor instead. 400k TL persuaded his club to let him go. Perhaps it’s better it happened this way as three seasons of regular football in the lower divisions have seen him develop into a good player capable of challenging for a first team place.Sercan Nergiz (DL) – A club record 2.1 million TL transfer fee may seem a risk for a 17 year-old but I’m convinced he’ll justify it in time. He will provide back up to Krsko for now and I hope he will claim a first XI spot soon.Burak Kaplan (AMRLC) – He will provide useful cover across the midfield as well as some experience in a very young team.Mehemt Çakır (AMRC/ST) – Another more experienced name coming in to provide cover in a variety of positions.Jans Meyer (ST/AMR) – I needed a new striker and this German kid is it (spotted and stolen while on trial at Fenerbahçe!) I hope he will develop a good partnership with Woodford up front.

I’m hoping to at least match last season’s performance and maybe even push on for a place in the top eight and the European Places Play-Offs. Whatever happens, there will be goals!

LLR - Congrats on promotion! vikeologist - A very good season. Hopefully, your luck in the cups stays with you throughout your career. Best of luck with next year's promotion push!Britrock - Mid-table safety, gotta be happy with that. I just hope the new stadium doesn't restrict you too much financially!siLKEAPE - Three consecutive promotions! That's some going. Keep it up in Serie A!

LLR - well done mate. delighted for you breaking into Liga Adelante. hopefully you can kick on now and push towards La Liga.silKEAPE - Wow!! awesome run mate!! let's hope you settle into Serie A as easily!! Britrock - understand your pain but mid-table isn't bad. hopefully you can kick on and debut your new stadium in Serie B.

Vikeologist - Unlucky on missing out o n promotion, hopefully you'll get there next season.Britrock - It may have been difficult but mid table is always good for your first season in a division.silKEAPE - Well done on promotion, now the hard work really begins in earnest. Also Ferrari looks immense and could lead the line for years.DodgeeD - Looks like you've got a decent right back there, there are some decent Americans showing up in my game as well.gers51 - Welcome aboard.

Sorry everyone but I won't be continuing with Torpedo Armavir because my save game has been corrupted, although at the time I was second in the league after 20 games I think I have lost my appetite for FM at the time being so may continue with a different team at sometime but not right now

Sorry everyone but I won't be continuing with Torpedo Armavir because my save game has been corrupted, although at the time I was second in the league after 20 games I think I have lost my appetite for FM at the time being so may continue with a different team at sometime but not right now

Have you tried retrieving an earlier version of the save? Go to the save game in your sports interactive folder, right-click on it and 'restore previous versions'. Hopefully you'll have a choice of some earlier versions of your save. I've never had a corrupted save, and so I've never tried it, but I think it might work. It would be interesting if you could let us know if it does.

In front of Città di Pontedera's first ever season in the Serie A, we needed to strengthen our team. As the board decided to deny us a transfer budget it meant we needed to look at the free transfer market this year aswell. I tried to sign a few experienced players to help my young squad, but failed as their wage demands in general was too high. Towards the end of the transfer window I stumbled across two amazing players I just HAD to have, and managed to scrape the clubs coffin for the cash needed to buy them.

New signings:

RB/LB: Arthomani Martadi - Released by Lens, handy player that can step in at both fullback positions.
DC:Unai Sesma - Released by Athletic Bilbao. Even though his jumping is a bit low for my liking, I couldn't resist signing him.

DMC: Valentino Flavi - Was very happy when I stumbled across this italian talent. Rated as our best defensive midfielder by our assistant, and dubbed the new Daniele De Rossi by the media. At £500,000 this was a steal!
AML: Pedro Coutinho - Needed some pace down the flanks for our counter-attacking strategy this year, and Pedro fit the bill nicely. Massive potential and is allready a favourite among team-mates due to his "light hearted" personality.
AMR: Uche Opara - This lad will be fun to watch this season, what a livewire with the ball at his feet!
AMR: Einar Claussen - Will need to settle with a backup-role this season, unless Pedro Coutinho fails completely at the left wing.

I have changed my philosophy to a much more conservative and rigid style of play in front of this season, hopefully it will work well enough to keep us in the top flight.
We won our first match in the league 3-2 against Torino at home - much because they had a red card 30 secounds into the game
In other news, Alessandro Pieroni is now wanted by Inter - perhaps because he is dubbed the new Christian Vieri!
Our promising defender, Jorge Soares, is dubbed the new Ricardo Costa.

Hopefully my squad of young players can continue to improve like they did last year, and if they do I am confident we will survive.
To illustrate how little our club is compared to the rest of the league, look at this.

Has anyone managed to get a parent club? After asking 5 times my board still can't find a suitable club, whether I ask for the loanees or because of the money. There has to be a club out there in Italy that needs a feeder club to send their youngsters to for match practice.

silKEAPE - good luck in Serie A. love the look of Uche Opara... make sure you get plenty of ball to him...Britrock - i managed t oget one at the first time of asking in Hoffenheim. mind you that isn't in Italy so maybe it's easier in Germany???

As for me and Mannheim, my season is over. the screenshots are done and hopefully i can get the season review up tonight...

Stuart Brawls, Seregno 2017-18, Season 6, Serie A

The targets i had for the season was to avoid relegation and, if it didn't affect the league battle, to get to the main rounds of the Italian Cup to get the prize money and gate receipt money flowing in.

A last minute winner saw us past Serie B side Sassuolo in the 3rd Qualifying Round.
The 4th Qualifying round put us against Serie A side Ascoli (would would later finish last) and we totally destroyed them running out 5-0 winners to qualify for the 1st round proper, which was my target.
The 1st Round put us against Genoa which i felt would be a diffcult task. But when Guillot scored after 16 minutes it looked like going our way as we controlled the game. We were even more in control after 58 mins when Genoa had a man sent off. Unfortunately it went wrong in the last 10 mins as well gave away a penatly, which Genoa scored, and Humbel got himself a 2nd yellow to level the match at 1-1 with 10 men each. No further goals in extra time saw the match go to penalties in which Genoa's first penalty miss proved decisive as we scored all 5 pens to go through.
The Quarter Final put us against Serie B side Atalanta and we controlled the match cruising into a 2-0 lead and not even a late consolation goal from Atalanta could stp us from progressing into the Semi-Final.
The Semi Final was a 2 legged affair and put us up against Inter which i felt would be a step too far even though they would play some of their squad players. Nobody told our new Brazilian Star Paulao as he proved he was a man for the big occassion as he was truly awesome in the 1st Away leg as he bagged a goal and got 3 assists as we romped to an extremely unlikely 4-1 victory.
The second home leg we just wanted to maintain the 3 goal advantage that we had to ensure our progress into the final. Another thrilling match in which Paulao was again a factor saw the match finish 3-3 meaning that we were through to our first ever Italian Cup Final with a 7-4 aggregate victory.
The Final saw us up against Bologna who were below us in the league and who we had already won at home 2-0 and drew away from home 2-2, 3 days earlier as i choice to rest my main players for the final. The final saw us in control for the whole match and we eventually took the lead in the 49th minute with a goal from Marco Giovio. I was dissapointed that we were unable to add to the lead and that resulted in a nervous end to the match but we were able to habg on as we WON the Italian Cup for the first time ever with this 1-0 Victory.
The win also ensured that next season we will be playing in the Europa League starting in the 4th Qualifying round.

League

Looking back over the previous seasons the most points a team had been relegated with was 36 and so my aim for the season was to get on average a point a game so therefore 38.
The first half of the season saw us stay out of the relegation zone though not much above it. At the half way point of 19 games we had 22 points which put us just above the target i had set for the season.
With the second half of the season came the loss of the club record scorer Rene Dekker as i cashed in for a measly 625k as he had announced he was leaving, he also announced that he was delighted to have signed for such an illustrious club as Sorrento who went on to finish 19th in Serie B . With the money i had received i was able to re-invest and this brought the introduction to the team of our 3 main January singings, Kayhan Yayla, Paulao and Marco Giovio. This action was a turning point in the season as with the 3 new signings in the team we were greatly improved and we steadily moved up the table over the second half pof the season eventually finishing in 9th place with 54 points.
The improvement that the January signings brought to the team was evident in that the 1st 19 games brought in 22 points whilst the 2nd 19 games brought in 32 points.
The second half of the season also brought in a few big victories over some of the big clubs in Italy. A fortuitous 2-1 victory over AC Milan at the San Siro as well as another 2-1 victory over Roma also away from home highlight the improved performances in the second half of the season.

Pietro Marino - Signed as the best GK i could find as i knew i needed a good GK if i was to survive. He did ok but i'm going to be looking for someone better for next season.Filippo Perucchini - Relegated to the bench this season as i felt he wasn't good enough for Serie A.Valentino Ostieri - For the first season under my management Valentino wasn't our main DR. He played in a few games and was good when called upon. He has now reached his potential but the club has now moved further on. Lars Tjorbjorsen - Another signed on a free in the summer. Lars become our first choice right back and had a good season. Has the potential to improve in the future but did pick up a lot of yellows this season.Nick Van Wonderen - Signed on a free in the summer, Nick was mainly used as a sub but is only 20 and he has plenty of potential.Loic Fournier - Used on a rotantional basis this season and was ok when used. Has the potential to improve a bit more.Ionel Neagu - Continued to be my first choice CB and had a very good season though he is now playing at his full potential.Michele Cremonesi - I signed Michele in the summer for 180k as i felt we needed a good Serie A CB who had experience of playing at this level. Though he came from recently relegated Modena he did what i had hoped for and also got himself 5 goals. Tommy Riddell - Signed on a free in January as he has the potential be a very good Serie A CB. Played in a couple of games but is one for future seasons and not this one. Roger - Used as a secondary LB this season he still got plenty of games and did ok but he will be leaving at the end of the season when his contract runs out. Cedric Dumas - Cedric came in on a free, from Clairefontaine, and soon became my first choice left back. GHe hasd a good first season and got 4 assists along the way.Guerino Stella - Unfortuantely Serie A is a step too far for Stella and he played very little this season and i will be letting him go when his contract runs out at the end of the season.Armando Di Matteo - A good and solid season from Armando. He is an extremely improtant member of my midfield who got 5 goals and 3 assists this season. Was greatly missed when he was injured for 2 months in January.Kayhan Yayla - Signed in January on a free as a huge prospect (Potential to be a leading Serie A DMC). Had a great half of a season and was instrumental in making our midfield stronger than it had been. 5 assists and an average ratring of 7.09 are testiment to this. Gabriele Piromalli - Was deemed surplus to requirements in January after not even having a sub appearance. He went to Cremonese on a 20k Co-Ownership deal though i have no interest in bringing him back. Noel Henauer - Played rotationally in DMC and MC. He played in the majority of games either as a sub or starting due to injuries. He has the potential to improve quite a lot in future seasons and is already doing well when called upon.Dennis Humbel - An improvement on last season and that's compared to a Serie B season. Another player to ebe out for several months which meant he didn't play the number of games ha ought to have. Has potential to improve a lot more. Alberto Gerbo - Has now served the purpose of his 30k transfer 2 years ago and after a season of a few sub appearances he will be on his way in the summer.Girolamo Gentile - Another midfielder who featured only as cover and will also be on his way out in the summer.Paulao - Signed in January for all the money i had left, 975k. I think he has already paid that money back because he has been excellent and is certainly a big game player! 6 goals and 7 assists are testimant to this. Diogo Ferreira - Played in quite a lot of games but didn't contribute with anything like the number of assists he had done in previous seasons. He also now has the club record for worst discipline with 15 yellows and 3 red cards.Samir Colic - Signed on a free in the summer, Samir is already rated as a good Serie A midfielder and has the potential to be a leading one. Had a difficult season with several poor games but with his potentail he will improve and learn from this season.Cedric Lazaar - Only played in a handful of games and hasn't improved as i would have hoped. Now having better options Cedric will be leaving in the summer.Florian Oswald - Same as Cedric, Handful of appearances and will be leaving in the summer.Daniel Guillot - The second player that i signed on a free from Clairefontaine. Had a very good first season and has the potential to improve further. He season though finished early when he got injured for 3 months in February.Clemont Durond - Also signed on a free, Daniel had a diffcult season. He scored on his debut (the first game of the season) but his second goal only came in the 4-1 Italian Cup win against Inter in February. With Guillot's injury he was guaranteed a regular starting spot and grsped the opportunity as he improved greatly for the final games of the season and finally finished with 8 goals and 5 assists. Rene Dekker - I was gutted when he announced he would be leaving when his contract expires (especially as it was straight after the first game of the season which we had just won). I therefore was annoyed and immediately arranged for him to be sold to Sorrento in Januray for a measly 625k. It proved to be one of the best decisions i have ever made as the money allowed me to get Giovio and Paulao. Before he left he added 4 league and 3 cup goals to his club record tally and had been excellent during the first half of the season until he left in January.Marco Giovio - After much searching i spent 180k to bring in Marco as Dekker's replacement. It proved to be a bargain buy as he was truly awesome in the second half of the season. In the 22 games he played he scored 13 goals with 5 assists and an average rating of 7.32, Fantastic!

The Future

Well after this season went so much better than i had hoped for my aims for the upcoming season are to build upon what we have already achieved this season and achieve another top half finish in the league.
I would like to defend the Italian Cup but the draw might not be as kind as it was this year.
In the Europa league i want to make at least the group stages to get some money coming in and i also would like to qualify for this competition again for the season after next.

Our brand new 9425 capacity stadium saw in its 1st season that it might even be a bit too small as we seem to have a very good fanbase because throughout the season as we averaged 99% capacity.
I would like to see an improvement in the stadium capacity and also improvements to the training and youth facilities. (ACtually the board has just announced that the stadium will be expanded by 1270 seats).

Given our financial situation and us reverting to a semi-professional outfit I had modest expectations for the season. After our 12th place finish in our debut season, I would have been happy to match this finish. How surprised I was!! After a sluggish start we soon found our feet and after hitting 4th in Week 7 we never looked back. We kept in the top 4 all season before miraculously hitting top spot with 4 games to go.

With the title in our hands we had a massive wobble, losing in week 36 and then a poor draw at home in week 37. thankfully our competitors also wobbled and we went into the final match still in second. We went away to Regensburg in our final match and capitulated losing 3-0. I thought our chance was gone but then news from the other grounds came through. We kept second place and were promoted!!!!!

30. Niclas Heimann - After heavy interest in the summer I managed to keep Niclas and he did a stellar job. Got injured in the run in and not coincidental that our form suffered a little.
31. Marco Aulbach - Marco spent the season as Heimann’s understudy, performing pretty well when called upon. Good understudy.

Full Backs

2. Nico Postic - Nico started the season as RB but was quickly sidelined for Bayraktar. Solid cover
32. Samet Bayraktar - The young Turk initially joined as cover but after a shaky start for Postic he got his chance and never looked back. Good season.
3. Petr Novotny - Petr had a solid season at LB and did well. Highly promising player also, one for the future.
27. Mattia Desole - Mattia lost his starting place to Novotny and spent most of the season on the bench. Solid back-up.

Centre Backs

4. Fabien Heinrich - Fabien was in and out of the team this season but still did well when called upon. Decent player
5. Lukas Spendlhofer - Lukas spent the first half of the season on the bench but got a few games in January and didn’t look back putting in some good performances alongside Ercan.
6. Wouter Gudde - Wouter had more competition this season and was also in and out of the team. Did ok but I have decided to let him go in the summer as his contract is up and his rating is falling.
63. Yilmaz Ercan - Another young Turk to have a good 1st season at the club. Suffered a broken leg in the spring and our defence missed him. One for the future still too.

Midfielders

7. Ivo Tomas - Ivo is a promising young German but he spent most of the season as a sub.
8. Nico Haas - Another young German, Nico got quite a lot of game time alongside Laudrup alternating with Norwood. Plenty of room still to grow.
10. Oliver Norwood - Oliver is a solid midfielder who can always be relied upon. Still coming on as a player too, he formed a good partnership with Laudrup in the second half of the season.
11. Carsten Mathiesen - Carsten was without a doubt our star midfielder, giving a number of dazzling displays down the left flank. Hopefully he can be a Mannheim player for many years.
14. Mads Laudrup - Mads had a solid first full season in the centre of the park.
17. Henning Grieneisen - Henning did pretty well in the first half of the season scoring a few goals but he tailed off towards the end of the season and will leave in the summer.
18. Christopher Verbist - Verbist joined in January and did a solid job down the right flank. Earned himself a new 1-year contract as a result. Solid if unspectacular.
22. Christian Sorensen - Christian was back up to his Danish colleague and di ok but is another to leave in the summer.

Strikers

9. Riccardo Bocalon - Riccardo was brought in to add depth to the strikers and did that. Hoever he was never great and will likely be sold in the summer.
12. Nicolao Dumitru - Star Man – Nicolao was our standout performer as finished not far short of a goal a game. In fact he was in the first half of the season, earning a call-up to the Romanian national team. League top goalscorer.
19. Kevin Friesenbichler - Kevin was back-up this season and was solid if unspectacular.
25. Yassine Hamdaoui - Yassine is a highly rated Dutchman who joined in January. A potential future star for the club, he struggled to upsurp Dumitru and Enikidze this season.
99. Gurami Enukidze - Gurami wasn’t quite as prolific as Dumitru but he was another star performer. What a partnership he had with Dumitru, these two could be key next season.

Finances

A bit of a profit made this season although we are still £1 million in debt. Hopefully a couple of seasons in Bundesliga 2 will sort us out financially and we can leave our money worries behind.

The Future

Well I think we have a tough job on in the summer in order to get us ready for our new league. We were a bit soft in defence and this is an area I need to work on in the summer. I have no transfer budget and a small wage budget so things will be tough. Just the way we like it!!

StellaF1 - good luck in the Euro Cup. Just get past one team and you'll be in the group stage. (I'm writing this in abject misery since we've just failed to do this in an extra time thriller) rlipscombe - congrats on promotion. I wonder if you'll go professional again now. Do you still have lots of players on pro contracts from your previous status. neushoorn - GL for next season. Wow, you're right. It looks like nobody was particularly good. So, are you going to give them one more chance, or go purge on their arse and bring in new blood?

rlipscombe - congrats on promotion. I wonder if you'll go professional again now. Do you still have lots of players on pro contracts from your previous status.

we have gone professional again yes thankfully. the majority of our starting XI are on pro contracts which is good but the fringe players are on part-time. unfortunately pro contracts means higher salaries which may be tricky....